The total deficit of the U.K. defined benefit funds covered by the Pension Protection Fund's 7800 index rose to £90.7 billion ($110 billion) at the end of July, from a deficit of £51.7 billion at the end of June, an update Tuesday from the PPF said.
The position worsened from a year ago, when the pension funds in the London-based PPF index recorded a deficit of £26.1 billion as of July 31, 2018.
The funding level of pension plans also worsened over the month to 95% as of July 31, from 97% as of June 30. As of July 31, 2018, the funding level was 98.4%, the update said.
Assets rose over the month and the year by 2.4% and 6.8%, respectively, to £1.73 trillion. For the month, liabilities increased 4.6% and 10.6% for the year to £1.821 trillion.
The PPF said in its update that the FTSE All-Share index improved 2% for the month and 1.3% for the year. Five- to 15-year index-linked gilt yields fell 31 basis points in July and fell 94 basis points over the year.
As of July 31, 62% of the 5,450 pension funds covered by the index had a deficit, compared with 60% as of June 30. As of July 30, 2018, 58.6% of the 5,450 pension funds covered by the index had a deficit.
